1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for pursuing a missing mobile communication terminal, and in particular, to a system and method for pursuing a missing cellular telephone.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile communication terminal includes a unidirectional pager, a bidirectional pager, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a cellular telephone. With the advance of the mobile communication technology, the communication terminal has decreased in price and the charge rate for the communication service also has decreased. Accordingly, the communication terminal has come into wide use.
Among the above mentioned mobile communication terminals, the PDA and the cellular telephone are typical bidirectional mobile communication terminals, which provide a voice or data communication service. The position of the mobile communication terminal is changed according to the movement of the user. Thus, in a conventional method for pursuing the mobile terminal, the cellular telephone notifies its position to a base station at irregular intervals. Then, the base station transmits the received positional information of the cellular telephone to a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) and stores it in a home location register (HLR) of the MTSO.
Conventionally, since the cellular telephone transmits its positional information to the MSTO at irregular intervals, it is difficult to determine an accurate position of the cellular telephone. Accordingly, when the cellular telephone is missing, the user (i.e., the possessor) of the cellular telephone cannot determine the accurate position of the missing cellular telephone. In some cases, the finder may use the missing cellular telephone fraudulently.
Therefore a need exists for an improved method of locating a missing mobile communication terminal.